The overall objectives of our MBRS Program at Southern University are to continue to improve and increase the biomedical research capabilities of our institution and its research faculty members and students. Through all of the proposed projects we intend to increase the number of minorities going into the mainstream of biomedical research as a career; improve the expertise and capabilities of the principal investigators to enable them to get into mainstream biomedical research and become very competitive in applying for federal grants in this area of research. Our program also involves intensive research training and improved participation of a number of our graduate and undergraduate students who will become journeymen biomedical research scientists of tomorrow. Most of the projects in our program are interdisciplinary in nature. The projects deal essentially with the problems of pollutions and the impacts on human health though, they traverse the areas of biochemistry, inorganic chemistry, parasitology, mycology, textile biochemistry, bio-organic chemistry and toxicology, and social services. Most of the investigators will be using common instruments and similar but modified techniques and ideas in solving their research problems. We intend to relate the research problems of different projects to the overall program problems and to see each research project not as a separate entity but as an aspect of related projects. We intend to complement our research efforts with weekly seminar presentation. Instrumentation and techniques in biomedical research will be taught to our students. We intend to continue to encourage participation of non-MBRs faculty members in our program in an attempt to improve their research skill or retool themselves in biomedical research. We think this will help increase the number of trained individuals going into the biomedical research, if it is handled in a proper manner. This will enhance our chances of greater success and achievement of MBRS goals and objectives.